Playing With Fire
by Moonlit dark
Summary: Things haven't really changed between Kazuma and Ayano and Ayano's father is starting to give up on getting them together. Then, when a dear childhood friend of Ayano comes to visit her and starts to show interest in her, what will happen? Discontinued
1. Yamada Soujiro

_Playing with fire_

Ayano was brimming with rage. That idiot Kazuma! Still acting like a jerk and a total playboy, even after all that had happened!

With her face looking more than angry, she looked a last time over her shoulder before she stomped down the street, trying to shut out Kazumas loud laughter.

Really, she said to herself, there shouldn't be a reason for him to laugh at me. I guess I should learn to control my temper…

Suddenly a hand grabbed her arm. She stiffened.

Then, with a quick manoeuvre she moved out of the grip, and pointed her flaming Enraiha to the person's chest. "Who are you?!"

The boy in front of her was at her own age, and had shiny black that fell down in his bright emerald eyes. He would have been good-looking if it hadn't been for the scared expression, which now had taken place in his face.

"Sorry," she murmured and made the sword disappear. The boy visibly relaxed.

"Thank you… but do you know where the Kannagi-family lives?" he suddenly looked embarrassed, and scratched his neck, while avoiding her gaze. "It's been a while since I've last walked around here, and I kinda got lost."

Ayano's eyes widened. He seemed an awful lot familiar. Could he be…? "Soujiro-kun?"

He quickly looked back at her, surprise etched in his face. "How do you know…." He looked more closely at her, and a big smile appeared at his face. "Aya-chan? Is that you?"

She nodded happily, and gave her long lost friend a hug. "Wow, you've grown. Last I saw you; I was taller than you by a foot!"

He smirked and patted her head. "Yeah, but it looks like you haven't grown that much… anywhere." He pointed to her chest, and her face soon matched her hair.

"SOU-JI-RO!"

He grinned and kissed her on the cheek. She immediately calmed down, but her face was, if possible, even redder now. "Don't worry, it's okay, I've never liked busty women that much, anyways."

He grinned again and started to run, to avoid getting burned by her sword, which had suddenly appeared again.

"SOU-JI-RO! Wait until I get you! You won't be able to walk the next many weeks!" Ayano started to run after him, a bit embarrassed and angry, but still happy. All thoughts of Kazuma were long forgotten.

"Kazuma-oniisama! Where is Ayano-oneesama? Wasn't she going with you?"

Kazuma shrugged and ignored Ren's worried questions.

Ayano was a big girl; she could handle herself.

He leaned against a tree in the garden and closed his eyes, feeling the wind blowing in his face. It always made him relax. His mind slowly began wandering, while he skilfully ignored his little brother. That was, at least, until Ren obviously got tired of it, and started to poke him in the side.

Kazuma sighed, annoyed, and grabbed Ren's wrist. "You know," he started and kneeled so they were at eyelevel. "Being persistent is not always a good thing."  
"But you didn't answer my questions!" Ren pouted. "Don't you care about her at all?"

Kazuma stayed quiet. He didn't even know himself.

Just before Ren started the poking again, laughter was heard from the gates of the house. Ren smiled. "That sounds like Ayano-oneesama! Maybe she's home again! Though it's been a long time since she last laughed," he continued quietly to himself, before running towards the voices.

Kazuma looked like he didn't care, but he actually clearly heard Ren's last words. Now when he thought about it, he had never heard her laugh before…

Shrugging it off, he stood up and went after Ren.

Ren smiled, when he saw Ayano walk laughing through the gate. "Ayano-oneesama! You're home!"

She turned her head to see him, and smiled back. "Yeah, tadaima Ren."

He then noticed the person that was walking beside her. "Who is that, onee-sama?" he asked politely, thinking that the guy looked a bit familiar.

"Oh." Ayano said introduced him. "I don't know if you can remember him. This is Yamada Soujiro. He used to come over and play a lot, before he moved away."

There suddenly appeared a big light pulp over Ren's head. "Oh!" he said. "You're the Sui-Jutsushi-guy, right? The one who's able to control water?"

Soujiro sweatdropped. "Yeah, that's me." He then smiled again. "Yoroshiku, Kannagi-san."

Ren smiled and nodded. "Yoroshiku, Yamada-san."

Soujiro then looked at Ayano and pouted. "How come, you're never that polite to me? Don't you respect me at all?"

"Not really."

His pout became bigger. Ayano couldn't hold back laughter.

Ren looked at the scenery with a little smile. It was a shame his Onee-sama didn't smile often. It was a lot prettier than the scowl he was used to see on her face.

He froze, when he heard footsteps behind him. Without turning he already knew who it was. With a little cunning smile that disappeared before anyone saw it, he looked at his Onii-sama.

"Hello, Kazuma-oniisama!" he said loudly, while smiling at him. Everyone looked at the newcomer.

"Ah! Kazuma!" Ayano stopped smiling.

There was a silence. Soujiro looked back and forth between the two. Ayano avoided his gaze, and the so-called Kazuma, looked like he couldn't care less.

"So…" He decided to break the silence – and with style that is. "You're the famous Kazuma, huh? Ayano has told me a lot about you." He then grinned and bowed respectfully. "Yoroshiku, Ojii-sama!"

There was another silence. Then Ayano's muffled giggles started to be louder, so everyone could hear it.

Soujiro looked at Kazuma and grinned again when he saw that his face was not-so-blank anymore.

Actually, he could almost see a vein pumping on his forehead.

Kazuma then nodded, and mumbled something that sounded like: "Yoroshiku," followed by a not-so-polite word.

Ren sensed the growing tension between the two men, and looked pleadingly at Ayano, who obviously was oblivious to that little fact.

But to his relief, they were interrupted by a deep voice behind them.  
"Oh! Yamada-kun, welcome! I thought you were supposed to arrive tomorrow?"

They turned around and saw Ayanos father, Jūgo Kannagi.

Soujiro bowed deeply, and then looked the leader of the Kannagi-clan in the eyes. "Yes, sir, but I just couldn't wait that long, so I decided to leave a little earlier than we planned. I hope I haven't brought you any troubles by doing that."

Jūgo Kannagis eyes tindered. So polite. He would be a great son-in-law if it ended up that way. "It's okay. Now, let's go inside and have some tea. You too, Kazuma," he then added, when he saw the young man was going to make his exit. "I'll pay you for it, so you can relax."

With a shrug, Kazuma turned and followed the others into the house.

"So," Jūgo Kannagi said to Ren. "Has there been _any_ progress at all between those two?"

Ren shook his head. "No."

They were, at this particular moment, standing outside the room where Ayano, Soujiro and Kazuma probably were having tea right now. Jūgo Kannagi sighed. "Then I guess it's okay, that I got Yamada-kun to come here. Maybe something will happen now."  
Ren looked at him with big eyes. "I thought you wanted Kazuma-nii and Ayano-nee to get together?"

The lead of the Kannagi-clan nodded. "Yeah, but it won't hurt either if she ends up with Yamada-kun. He's very powerful too." He then got stars in his eyes. "And he's so polite and handsome! They would also look great together. Hmm, how would my grandchildren look like?"  
While his uncle kept saying weird things to himself, Ren sweatdropped, and decided to see how it was going in the indoor-warzone…

* * *

**My first attempt at a Kaze no Stigma-fanfiction. Please review and tell me how I did. I'll update as soon as I can :D Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Jealousy

_I can't thank everyone enough for all their great reviews. I'm really surprised that I've received so many, and truly apologize for the long wait and this short-ish chapter. I had tried to write this multiple times, but none of them pleased, and in the end I was ready to give up. I think I maybe (finally!) have an idea about where this is going, but suggestions are always welcomed ^-^. I haven't written a lot lately, so I don't know when chapter three will be uploaded, but please stay tuned anyway!  
_

**I don't own Kaze no Stigma nor any of the characters (Except for Soujiro ;D)**

* * *

_Playing with fire_

The whole ordeal was very simple. In fact, so simple that it couldn't be more obvious what the true meaning behind it was. And it hurt Kazuma's pride. A lot. He knew that Jûgo often joked around about getting his daughter a good husband, but he also knew that the old man was one of the best actors in Tokyo. He hadn't called the Brat to come here because he wanted to be nice, or to pair up his daughter and him. Kazuma now realized that. And the truth was much worse.

Jûgo thought that Kazuma didn't do his job properly.

He thought that he wasn't able to protect his daughter.

Ouch.

It had been two weeks since the Brat had arrived. None of those had been anything near the term 'enjoyable'.

Kazuma looked at the jolly display from his dark little corner in the room. A customary frown creased his lips, as he felt his face darken. Why did this bother him so much? He knew that he was powerful. Heck, he was probably the most powerful mage in Japan! Since when did he suffer of this inferiority-complex?

Sure, the Brat made her happy. But 'happy' wasn't part of the job. Making sure that she was alive and came home in only one piece was.

He once more looked at the happy gathering in front of him. Ayano was fooling around with the brat, and seemed to have the time of her life. Jûgo was talking animatedly with them, still acting out his goofy role. Ren sat beside them, nodding and smiling, but rarely adding his own voice to the conversation, being too busy by sneaking worried glances at Kazuma from time to time.

He didn't want this. Didn't _need_ to do this.

So why do it?

"I'm quitting."

He didn't even look back at their stunned faces, when he slammed the shoji and took off.

Surely the princess could survive with only one bodyguard.

***

"Ne… Soujiro. Why do you think Kazuma left like that?" A slightly dazed Ayano asked.

The sun slowly faded, trailing reddish lights with it over the darkening sky, as it descended by the horizon and illuminated the countless skyscrapers that characterized modern Tokyo. The slight brush of breeze started to get colder, though Ayano really didn't notice this because of her inner warmth. It was really clever, actually. When her ancestor had made a contract with The Flame Spirit Lord he probably hadn't thought of this advantage to the deal, but she had to appreciate it now so many hundreds of years later. Only when it really became winter was she forced to wear anything else beside her traditional school uniform.

She took a deep breath of the fresh air that wind had brought through her open window, and let a small smile grace her lips. Sitting on her bed she had a great view outside and especially to their garden. When she was a child, she had always enjoyed it - the garden being her favorite place to play, and as she grew older and had to set aside play for training, it was always somewhere she could take a break and relax. Strangely, as she now observed the vanishing features of the trees by the little pond and the flowers planted neatly in the small beds, she found herself in an unusual state of pensiveness. When normal, it was well known that she was rash and maybe a tiny bit arrogant and had a habit of jumping directly into trouble without thinking first. Father should see me like this, she mused quietly. He would be proud. Kazuma would probably be too, but wouldn't say it and just tease me instead.

Her gaze became shadowed as she remembered what had happened earlier. He had acted totally out of character and what seemed more surprising, had appeared to be kind of angry. She slowly closed her eyes and sighed. She would probably never figure him out, no matter how much she tried and wanted to. For a moment it had seemed like there had been some slight progress between them, but seeing it in the light of the day's happenings she greatly doubted that.

"How did you know I was here?" His voice was plainly amused, but she could sense the sharp edge he tried to hide.

She shrugged, and felt her shoulders fall. She was so incredibly tired.

Soujiro's aura softened and moved closer until she could almost feel the warmth he was radiating. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "I'm just thinking… about stuff."

"You? _Thinking? _Okay, now I'm officially worried. Are you really sure that you're alright?" She would have hit him over the head at his teasing if she hadn't noted the underlying concern in his words.

"Oh, shut up. You're not much better yourself, Mr.-I-was-so-late-that-I-forgot-to-change-my-pants. You're an even bigger scatterbrain than I am." She patted his head comfortingly at his obvious pout and already felt the laughter grow in her chest. Soujiro had always had that effect on her: Making her calm even though she's in an insane rage, making her laugh when she is sad, and making even the greyest day bright and fun.

"It only happened once. And it's _many_ years ago – old enough to be categorized as 'ancient', so please don't speak of it. It was the most embarrassing moment in my entire every-so-often-awkward life." She watched as his face changed from a pout to a serious mask, that even she could have been fooled by.

A light snicker escaped her and she had to fight to keep the laughter at bay. "Aww, don't say that! You were so cute – your face was red enough to match the hearts on your boxers!"

He sighed dramatically. "And after that I had to live the rest of my school-life here in Tokyo being called "Lover-Boy". I know it could have been worse, but I swear that some of the more suspicious guys started to try to come on to me. I even got flowers." He shivered exaggeratedly and looked frightened at her. Ayano couldn't help it anymore and broke into a laughing-fit; laughing so hard that it became hard to breathe. Soujiro just watched her with a big grin. Inside he couldn't help but feel relieved. That was more like the Ayano he knew.

***

His apartment was dark, even as he sat down in the couch and finally relaxed against the cool leather. He didn't need, didn't _want_ the light at the moment and just closed his eyes with a sigh. He had done something he thought he never would: turned down easily earned money. What had gone through his head to just leave like that? Not feeling too keen on getting all emotional and find the answers to his questions, he just let his mind fade away and welcomed the sudden wave of tiredness that swept over his body and pulled him under.

_Kazuma sat quietly beside Ayano and stared boringly at the wall in front of him. It annoyed him for some reason. It was hard to admit it, being proud as he were – unless it involved money, then pride would be set aside –but sitting right beside Ayano and being completely ignored by her, somehow got to him. It was not like he was a chatterbox and wanted to take part in the conversation, or like he was a spoiled kid and needed to have some kind of attention directed at him. Ayano and he had sat together many times before where they had completely ignored each other and he had felt perfectly fine. But now…_

_He didn't know if it was because of the constant loud laughter or the sources of it, which was at fault. Granted, he liked Ayano's laugh – it was a delighting change from her previous almost constant scowl, no matter how cute it had looked. So since it wasn't that… _

_He leveled a stare on the boy making "funny" antics beside Ayano. He really had a way to piss Kazuma off without knowing it. Or else the Brat did know and deliberately did it, because he in reality was a spawn of the devil himself- _

_Kazuma mentally berated himself. Since when did he judge people before knowing them? And why was he so against this __**boy**__? _

_His train of thought was broken as a bright, cheerful voice cut through his musings. "Ojii-san! Why are you so quiet? Has the age finally caught up on you?"_

_Kazuma twitched and continued to stare at the wall in front of him, his neutral-mask-now-turned-glare promising ominous things to whatever that was in his way when he finally snapped. Now he remembered why. The kid had a tongue like a knife, always sharp and ready to use. It was unusual for him to get angry so easily, but he thought nothing more of it and rose nonchalantly. _

_Ren suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking every bit as nervous as 'Sou-chan' should. "Hey, I – Kazuma-nii where are you going?"_

_Kazuma deliberately ignored his younger brother even though he wasn't at fault, and walked past him and through the open shoji. That had been after the first week, and the first time he had showed any signs of annoyance except for the good ol' facial one. After that, he seemed to leave the room much more often. Until he finally snapped._

Kazuma opened his eyes, only to be met with a deep darkness – the kind you only see around midnight, and wiped his forehead with a pale hand. He didn't regret anything. Actually he felt pretty good about it all. Now nothing was holding him down; he was free again. So… Why didn't he feel that way?  
Sighing, he slowly stood from the couch and made his into the bedroom. Maybe he could get some real sleep in there.

Outside the moon hid behind large cloud and momentarily left the building in a pitch black shadow. The breeze had disappeared, leaving only the sound of birds rustling in the trees.

Glowing green eyes twinkled in the dark.

It was time.


End file.
